Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Few days ago I met problem with saving some basics paths from Adobe Illustrator to 3ds Max. Problem occurred during importing .ai file to Max. There was error with description that file can not be imported because file's type is unknown. The solution for that problem was to change newest version to legacy. For instance from version CS4, CS4 and so on to Illustrator 8.0. It works perfectly and correctly. Finally I was able to import some paths to Max and worked on them.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

This technique is very helpful for another one situation. If you are working with big resolution picture which has a lot of description (for example maps, fonts),details and you will have to decreasing resolution to less picture. Maybe for posting in web the details, descriptions as types will be blurred and washed because of removing some pixels from picture during changing image size down. Than you can apply sharpen filter for recovering those details from your art work. I tried this when I was working for APO, designing the map for their online game. I posted it below.

Whiteout sharpness the map looks bad and names of location weren't readable. It was very noticeable from closed distance after zoomed image in.

I would like to share some tip that I discovered working in Photoshop during making Video Copilot Banner. It gave me batter look and mood of banner and also increase quality as riddance of graphic too. It was more clean and all elements were better consisted together. Working with another one posted in this tread.I noticed that I can improve a quality by adding a little sharpness for finished version of banner.

What I did I made a copy of layer (short key ctrl + J) and turned it to Smart Filter. Smart Filter helps you precisely adjust amount of effect of filter that you applied to your graphic without doing this same again by deleting and creating layers. Smart Filters appear in the Layers panel below the Smart Object layer to which they are applied. Because you can adjust, remove, or hide Smart Filters, they are nondestructive. You can get more information from Photoshop Online Support. Next step is just applying sharpening filter Filter/Sharpen/Sharpen More and adjusting opacity for better consisting both layer. We don’t want to besharpness too strong. If the effect is too hard in some parts of picture I also using Mask and Soft Brushes for better and precises adjusting. That’s all. You can also try others sharpen filters, something one will be better than others. It depends on your project.

I thinks it’s very settle effect but improve quality of your designing. Everything is more clear. We removed this washed and blurred effects that was not very good. I think many people forgetters about sharpening and leaves graphics blurred and not sharp and strong clear. I think with this kind of effect it looks more filmy.

Here below you can see the difference between banners.

On the left without sharpness filter, on the left after applying Sharpen More filter. I think it doesn't need any additional comment.

In conclusion I enquire you for using this kind of technique for improving quality and clearness your art works. If you need more information or have some answers don’t hesitate to email me.

Monday, September 21, 2009

I'd like to train a little bit with 3D and set extension. I did some in max using matte/shadow/reflections material. In the picture you can see Kristofer doing a model of main character for our animation.

It is known that rendering is very time consuming. It is a process of making 3D scene data output in the form of image. It depends on variety and complexity of the scene and it can take from few hours to several days. Mental Ray is a highly efficient rendering engine. It allows for making photorealistic images, and it uses ray tracing algorithms. Computer graphics mainly use two types of illumination: Global Illumination and Indirect Illumination. Shaders of Indirect Illumination’s type compute light coming from many different light sources, which can be sun or lamp, but also diffused light, which comes from other objects in scene. Mental ray applies Final Gather for simulation of Indirect Illumination. FG uses rays, which are distributed in the whole scene. FG rays can bounce and make color bleeding effect. The render is more realistic when Final Gather is used. When we compare efficiency of 64-bits applications whit 32-bits ones, we can observe that for small tasks and test renders x86 enviroment is minimal better, regarding the rendering time. However , rendering in x64 enviroment, in the case of maximum quality and big image resolution, is more accurate and productive.

About Me

I'm vfx/compositor and motion graphics desginer. I can work on commercials and feature films projects. I have 3 years of experience as a professional graphic. Software which I use often: 3ds Max, Maya, Nuke, After Effects, Syntheyes and Phtosohop.